Would an tree under the effects of an awaken spell be talking or mostly silent?
I know it can at least definitely talk, as the listed effects of an awaken spell are the following:
After spending the casting time tracing magical pathways within a precious gemstone, you touch a Huge or smaller beast or plant. The target must have either no Intelligence score or an Intelligence of 3 or less. The target gains an Intelligence of 10. The target also gains the ability to speak one language you know. If the target is a plant, it gains the ability to move its limbs, roots, vines, creepers, and so forth, and it gains senses similar to a human's. Your GM chooses statistics appropriate for the awakened plant, such as the statistics for the awakened shrub or the awakened tree.
The awakened beast or plant is charmed by you for 30 days or until you or your companions do anything harmful to it. When the charmed condition ends, the awakened creature chooses whether to remain friendly to you, based on how you treated it while it was charmed.
I understand that it can be whatever I want as the DM, but I'm more interested about if the tree would do/say anything to the one who awakened it or would only answer if responded to.
Is there any 5e lore available that would indicate the typical behaviour of an Awakened Tree and answer my question of whether or not it would mostly be silent?
Best Answer
Awakened trees can speak, but are rarely described as doing so of their own volition.
This is something that's not heavily covered in canon.
In the few references I can find relating to the disposition of awakened trees, they practically always serve as guardians of individual druids, and usually have no reason to speak. The awaken spell is clear that they possess the ability to speak, and will therefore do so in order if necessary to serve their druid master.
An awakened tree appears in the D&D 5e adventure module Rise of Tiamat (p. 50), where it is the servant of a druid. It has no speaking lines.
Another reference to awakened trees appears in the Princes of the Apocalypse errata document, in a paragraph added to p. 144 of the adventure. This specific type of awakened tree is grown from a magical seed, and is described as understanding a language, but whether or not they use language is not mentioned, suggesting that it's not considered relevant:
In earlier editions, the D&D 3e Masters of the Wild, p.37, describes awakened plants and animals as ready and able to answer questions at the behest of their master, although whether they start conversations is ambiguous:
Treants on the other hand are more often described as talkative, and treated like NPCs, but awakened trees are typically treated as "muscle" for a druid character, rather than characters in their own right, and more or less exist to hit stuff.
Of course, this is just a generalization, and admittedly one based on very limited available data. Any given awakened tree may have its own personality, and some may be talkative or friendly.